Crowds gather at Beacon Hill to celebrate the Queen’s birthday

Scores of people gathered at Halifax landmark Beacon Hill last night to see the beacon lit in celebration of the Queen’s 90th birthday.

The landmark on Beacon Hill formed part of a chain of beacons lit around the UK on the Queen’s birthday, after the Queen lit the principal beacon in Windsor.

Calderdale Council registered the beacon to be one of over 1,000 lit in the country. It shone from 7.30pm and could be seen for miles around.

To prepare for the momentous occasion the beacon needed a little care, so minor repairs were carried out to ensure it could continue to shine bright and safely for many years to come.

Mayor of Calderdale, Councillor Lisa Lambert, the said: “We were delighted to join in with the national celebrations for the Queen’s 90th birthday. The beacon was a fantastic display and could be seen by many people for miles around.

“The repairs to the beacon made sure the event was fit for a Queen, and helped to preserve an important landmark in the town so that it can be enjoyed for generations to come.”

Haven Building and Maintenance carried out the repairs, and Malcolm Speak from the company lit the beacon. He said: “We were initially approached by the Council to ensure that the beacon was fit for use to mark this special occasion.

“The location of the structure means that it is subject to the weather conditions and inevitably degrades over time, therefore needed a little bit of repair work. Lighting the beacon is a technical process and the structure is high up on a steep hillside, however our team of experts were best placed to support this.”

Local people also marked the Queen’s birthday by attending local historian David Glover’s illustrated talk – Queen Mother and Queen – at Halifax Town Hall from 7pm, which raised funds for the Mayor’s charities, Parkinson’s UK (Halifax and District Branch) and Calderdale WomenCentre.

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